Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2025 i National Geographic Magazine

WITHIN the DENSE CANOPY of the CONGO BASIN RAINFOREST, the afternoon light began to fade, glinting off a soaring metal tower that rose steeply out of the jungle. Measuring 180 feet tall, the narrow steel structure resembled a massive cellular-network antenna, although it was outfitted with a collection of far more critical scientific sensors. The wind had picked up, causing the spire to sway and whine with each strong gust. But a biologist named Fabrice Kimbesa appeared undaunted. After strapping into a safety harness, he grabbed hold of a thin metal ladder and clambered briskly upward, leaving me to catch up as he raced toward a small platform at the very top. This particular structure is what’s known as an eddy covariance flux tower. When it came online in October…

Two Thousand Twenty - Five HONOREES In 1888 National Geographic was founded by 33 bold thinkers—scientists, explorers, and scholars—who aimed to reimagine the way we encounter and understand our world. They were meeting a critical challenge of their time. Much has changed since then, of course. But at National Geographic, we are still inspired by the idea that people driven by a shared commitment to make the world a better place can have an enormous impact. It’s in this spirit that we present the inaugural National Geographic 33, an initiative that spotlights and honors visionaries, creators, icons, and adventurers from across the globe who believe that our world needs imaginative solutions and urgent action—and are answering the call. ICON Yvon Chouinard THE UNLIKELY MOGUL WHO BUILT THE ULTIMATE OUTDOOR BRAND,…

JUST IN FROM OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS ENVIRONMENT “This image captures for me like no other the CREEPING MOVEMENT of the mines, extending over many years and swallowing up everything that’s in their way.” DANIEL CHATARD, photographer Activists walk along the edge of an open-pit coal mine near Lützerath, Germany. The village was later demolished to make way for the mine’s expansion. ANIMALS “Photographing insects is a gamble because YOU NEVER KNOW if they are going to fly away while you’re setting up the shot. Fortunately, this damselfly was very cooperative.” BENJAMIN SALB, photographer To create a crisp, clear portrait of the tiny bug, Salb used a technique called focus stacking, combining multiple photographs to make one detailed image. CULTURE “When I’m working, occasionally an UNEXPECTED ARTISTIC DIMENSION emerges, like this well-synchronized…

LOST FOR MILLENNIA and surrounded in mystery, the Holy Grail is arguably the world’s most elusive Christian relic. But for centuries, clergy at Spain’s Valencia Cathedral have believed a cup in their possession is the “Holy Chalice of the Lord’s Supper.” Many variations exist in Grail lore, but a common theme is that it is the vessel used by Jesus at the Last Supper and also used to catch his blood at the Crucifixion. In these tellings, it’s a sacred object sought by monarchs and knights, like King Arthur and Sir Galahad, to prove their purity and virtue. The Chalice of Valencia first appears in Spanish historical accounts in 1399, when the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña bestowed it on King Martin of Aragon. One of his successors,…

ON WINTER EVENINGS throughout much of Europe and North America, an hour before sunset, thousands of starlings gather in the skies. Before descending to their nighttime roosts, the birds put on one of nature’s most spectacular displays. They pulse, ripple, and wheel as if they were a single entity—an amorphous, shape-shifting creature with the delicate beauty of calligraphic brushstrokes and the erratic chaos of flickering flames. How could so many birds be so tightly coordinated? That’s a mystery that researchers have sought to solve for more than a century. In 1931, the ornithologist Edmund Selous argued that a starling murmuration, which he described as “a madness in the sky,” could only arise through telepathy. The birds “must think collectively, all at the same time,” he wrote. Like many others, Selous…

HE RIVER FLOWS VAST AND soundless. It’s December in southern Kazakhstan, and the landscape near the Syr Darya River is smudged in shades of brown and taupe—dormant grasses, silted floodplains, leafless trees. This is not the most picturesque stretch of riverbank, strewn as it is with food wrappers, bottles, a decomposing sedan. Overhead, the sun is obscured by a haze of coal-and woodsmoke. But when it comes to what Bernie Kuhajda is searching for, the spot feels perfect. “This is the habitat we need,” says Kuhajda, an aquatic conservation biologist with the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute. He’s hoping to find a species of sturgeon—the Syr Darya—that’s native to these waters but hasn’t been seen since the 1960s, after a series of Soviet dams was built throughout the river system. Those…

FROM OUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS photographer Paul Nicklen likes 193,500+ where Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada THE KERMODE BEAR is found only in the temperate rainforests of Canada’s west coast. The subspecies is predominantly black, but on rare occasions a white variant—a so-called spirit bear—appears. Years ago, while on assignment for National Geographic, Explorer Paul Nicklen was told by his friend and guide Marven Robinson of the Gitga’at First Nation that a very special, very large male spirit bear might let Nicklen “into his world.” For two rain-soaked days the bear allowed them to follow it. Just as Nicklen was preparing to leave the forest, the sun broke through. He reached for his telephoto lens, but it had fogged. So he used his dry wide-angle lens. The result was “kind…